AI Magazine Volume 13 Number 4 (1992) (© AAAI)
AAAI News
A!!/4
AAAI
News
Minutes
AAAI Executive Council
Meeting
July 12, 1992
San Jose, California
Participants: Patrick Hayes, Danny Bobrow, Bruce Buchanan, Johan de
Kleer, Tom Dietterich, Bill Clancey,
Paul Cohen, Dick Duda, Richard
Fikes, Ken Forbus, Mark Fox, Barbara
Grosz, Barbara Hayes-Roth,
Jim
Hendler, Elaine Kant, Phil Klahr, Benjamin Kuipers, Wendy Lehnert, John
McCarthy, Ramesh Patil, Raj Reddy,
Elaine Rich, Paul Rosenbloom,
Howard Shrobe, Candy Sidner, Bill
Swartout, Pete Szolovits, Katia Sycara,
Marty Tenenbaum, Beverly Woolf,
and Carol Hamilton.
President Pat Hayes opened the
meeting by welcoming the four newly elected members of the Executive
Council who are Johan de Kleer, Benjamin Kuipers, Paul Rosenbloom, and
Beverly Woolf. He also thanked the
four retiring councilors-Ken
Forbus,
Howie Shrobe, Bill Swartout, and
Marty Tenenbaum-for
their three
years of service on the Council and
their continuing service to AAAI.
Standing Cqmmittee Reports
Reports were presented by the finance, workshop grants, fellows, conference, publications,
symposium,
and scholarship committees.
Finance Committee: Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Buchanan presented the
financial report. Due to the decline
in revenue for the association and
poor interest rates, the financial outlook is not as positive as in past
years. The finance committee will be
reviewing the investment strategy
during the next year to be sure it
meets the current needs of the association, since it may be necessary to rely on these sources in the future.
Bruce also presented a set of financial
guidelines, based on past and current
practices. A new guideline instituting
a limit on new expenditures by the
president and executive committee
was introduced and approved. This
new guideline calls for a limit of
three expenditures
up to $10,000
each by the president per annum,
and three expenditures up to $20,000
each by the Executive Committee
(consisting of the four officers) per
annum.
Workshop Grants: Workshop
Grants Chair Candy Sidner reported
that workshop
grants totalling
$68,000 had been awarded from July
1991 through July 1992. In addition,
Beverly Woolf volunteered to serve as
cochair of the Workshop Grants committee for the 1992-93 year. Candy,
who serves as the liaison to the Computer Museum, also mentioned that
the museum is seeking new technology displays. Programs that present
new work in AI, even videotapes, are
welcome. Programs need to be userfriendly.
Fellows: Fellows Committee Chair
Danny Bobrow reported the election
of 26 new AAAI Fellows. It was noted
that members of the Fellows Selection Committee may not nominate
nor provide references for potential
fellows.
Conference Committee: Conference
Chair Bill Swartout began with a report from 1992 Program Cochair Paul
Rosenbloom,
who gave a short
overview of the technical program.
There were a few more paper submissions in 1992 than in 1991. The program cochairs had been more flexible
in the grouping of papers than in
previous years. The meet-the-authors
sessions were omitted from the program, since they had not worked particularly well in 1991.
Bill introduced
the program
cochairs for 1993, Richard Fikes and
Wendy Lehnert. Ramesh Patil and
Paul Cohen will serve as Associate
Chairs for 1993. In addition, it is
hoped that program cochairs for
1994 can be identified early, preferably prior to the arrival of the technical papers in January, so that they
can observe the entire 1993 process.
Wendy and Richard plan to continue
the self-selection of papers by the
program committee during the review process. Ramesh will be responsible for the software that will facilitate this process. They also hope to
enlist the aid of senior members of
AAAI to serve as area chairs. The list
of paper subjects has been broadened
in an effort to attract more and different kinds of papers. A strong push
will be made for innovative papers.
Since the conference will be in Washington, DC in 1993, the selection of
the invited speakers will need special
attention.
The conference did see a decline
in registration, except for the IAAI
Conference. It was generally agreed
that the program committee’s efforts
to broaden the scope of papers might
be beneficial in increasing numbers.
In addition, better and different tutorial proposals are needed. Closer attention will be paid to the scheduling
and pricing of the tutorials and workshops.
The new Robot Competition and
Arts Exhibition were both regarded as
very successful. It was hoped that
both would continue in 1993 in
some form.
Workshop Chair Jim Hendler noted that the AAAI workshops are becoming the standard forum for AAAI
attendees. He also noted that there
was some concern among the workshop organizers that there was a
three-year limit on AAAI conference
workshops. After a short discussion,
it was decided that workshops will be
reviewed after a 3-year period, but
that if the workshops were proving
beneficial to the community, they
will be continued. Bob Filman will
serve as Workshop Chair in 1993.
The IAAI Conference saw an increase in fully paid attendance. 1993
Program Chair Phil Klahr hopes to
expand the program of the IAAI to
include invited speakers and, possibly, tutorials focused on individual
industries
using AI. AI-on-Line,
which was incorporated into the IAAI
schedule this year, was again very
popular.
WINTER 1992
9
AAAI News
Editor-in-Chief Bill
Clancey reported on the current status of press projects. Bill noted that
the Press will continue to publish
edited collections derived from AAAI
activities, but is also exploring other
publishing options. These include
technical reports based on working
notes from AAAI symposia and workshops in both printed and electronic
forms.
AI Magazine Coeditor Ramesh
Patil noted that the magazine is still
in need of more submissions.He encouragedmembers to submit articles,
and he and Coeditor Elaine Rich will
continue their efforts to solicit quality articles. Severalsourcesfor articles
were suggested, including tutorial
speakers, invited speakers, and research sites that have not submitted
research-in-progressarticles for sometime.
Symposium Committee: Jim Hendler, 1993 Symposium Chair, noted
that the number and quality of proposalsfor AAAI symposiamay be limited enough in the future to consider
having the spring symposium alternate between the west and east
coasts.This would eliminate the need
for the Fall Symposium Series. This
will be evaluated further in the coming months.
Scholarship Committee: Barbara
Hayes-Roth reported that the Scholarship Committee granted a total of
$43,000 in student scholarships this
year. Of this, $11,000was for intemational students. Barbara noted that
several scholarships had been returned at the last minute, explaining
the lower than budget figure. A little
over $17,000 was awarded in scholarships for the 1992 Spring Symposium Series,and another $10,000 is
expected to be granted for the Fall
Symposium Series. Women and Minority Grants will be awarded in the
fall. Barbara announced that Katia
Sycarawill be taking over as Scholarship Chair for the next two years.
Publications:
AAAI Nominations
AAAI is seeking nominations for its councilors and president-elect. Candidates must be AAAI members. Candidates are expected to actively participate in the organization and attend at least two council meetings each
year. Councilors servea three-yearterm. The president-electservesa twoyear term, followed by a two-year presidency. Pleasecontact the person
you are nominating before you submit their name.
We must receivethis form on or before March 1, 1993.
-.-*-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.Nominee for president-elect(pleaseprint or type)
Name
Position
Organization
Department
Address
City
Zipcode
State
Email
Telephone
-.-.-.-*-._._.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.Nominee for councilor (pleaseprint or type)
Name
Position
Department
Organization
Address
City
State
Zipcode
Telephone
Email
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-,-.-.-.-.-.-.-.Pleasesend this form to:
AAAI Nominations
445 BurgessDrive
Menlo Park, California 94025
You can fax the information to us at 415-321-4457.For more information contact Carol Hamilton at hamilton@aaai.orgor 415-328-3123.
Nominator:
Address:
Telephone:
Email:
Signed:
Date:
10 AI MAGAZINE
Old Business
A report from Geoff Hinton, who
could not attend, was circulated regarding the final outcome of the
Eastern European Library Grant program. The program, launched in
February 1991, offered a selection of
conference proceedings and collections of papers from the Morgan
Kaufmann “Readingsin” seriesto 15
university libraries in Eastern Europe. All but two of the libraries
participated. The total cost of the
AAAI News
grant was $4,320.41.
Upon the request of the Executive
Council, a legal opinion was obtained during the spring regarding
the possibility of providing banking
services for specialized conferences
and workshops. There is no legal reason why AAAI cannot provide this
service, so it will be offered on a trial
basis to interested parties.
The AAAI membership
survey
which was conducted earlier this year
was discussed briefly. The survey
found that members are generally
satisfied with the services that AAAI
offers. A summary will appear in an
upcoming issue of the AI Magazine.
New Business
A scheduled report by Jim Hendler
on an affiliation with the Japanese AI
Society was rescheduled for presentation at the March 1993 Executive
Council meeting.
There was a lengthy discussion regarding AAAI’s need for improved
communications
in Washington, as
well as an improved image for AI in
general. Several options were explored. It was decided that AAAI’s
membership in the Computing Research Association was an important
part of this process. The president of
AAAI has been asked to join the
Board of Directors of CRA, which
should serve as a good source of information. In addition, an email distribution list was initiated that will
be alerted when negative AI media
coverage appears. The list will initially include AAAI Executive Council
members and AAAI Fellows.
Due to the decline in attendance
at the National Conference over the
past several years, much discussion
was focused on the future of the conference and how it might better serve
the needs of the members and the
larger community. As AI moves increasingly out into the marketplace,
IAAI was identified
as an area for
growth in the future, given the proper format. An ad hoc committee,
headed by Mark Fox, was formed to
explore the commercial focus of the
conference. Tom Dietterich and Phil
Klahr will also serve on this committee.
Hopefully, the current economic
conditions
will improve,
which
should affect the conference attendance favorably. In addition, more
concentration will be placed on public education.
A meeting of the
Strategic Planning Committee will be
scheduled before the next Executive
Council meeting to further explore
these issues.
The meeting adjourned at 4:45 PM.
AAAI Publications
on the Internet!
i”,
.,
-.
Available
Beginning in March 1993, selected
AAAI technical papers and articles
will be offered via Internet electronic
mail, on-demand.
AAAI has arranged with Public
Disc, a new Internet e-mail information distribution service, to offer its
publications on-line. This service
will enable AAAI members (and nonmembers) to purchase specific papers
that are of interest to them. With no
pre-subscription
or connect-time
fees, Public Disc users will pay only
for the documents they want. Using
the service requires no special software, equipment or training beyond
the ability to send and receive Internet e-mail.
For more information on Public
Disc and to learn how to become a
subscriber send an Internet e-mail
message to: info@PublicDisc.COM
Special Conference
Thank-You’s
AAAI gratefully acknowledges and
thanks the following persons and
companies for their support of the
1992 National Conference on Artificial Intelligence:
Apple Computer, for a $3,500
grant for rental of computer hardware used in the Robot Competition
and Art Exhibition. Special thanks to
Mark L. Miller of Apple Computer
for his personal assistance.
Apple Computer, for the internet connection made available during the conference. Special thanks to
David Nagel for helping to arrange
this connection.
Stanford
University
and the
Knowledge Systems Laboratory, for
hardware used to connect to the internet. Special thanks to Thomas C.
Rindfleisch for his role in arranging
this donation and investigating alternatives.
Innovative Applications of
Artificial Intelligence 4
editedby CarlisleScottand
Philip Klahr
Innovative Applications of
Artificial Intelligence 3
editedby ReidSmithandCarlisleScott
Booksin the Innovative
Applicationsof Artificial
Intelligence(IAN) seriesreporton the natureand
rangeof real-worldproblemsthat Al technology
can addresssuccessfullytoday. They providean
excellentsamplingof the types of applications
comingon line Systemsarchitecturesand developmentstrategiesareaddressed
alongwith tactical issues,paybackdata,and realbenefits.
IAAI 3: 306pp $24.95 IAAI 4: 336pp: $30.00
References,
index
Publishedby the
AAAI PressandThe MIT Press
To order,call toll-free
l-800-356-0343or (617)625-8569
Faxorders:(617)625-6660
MastercardandVISAaccepted
A
l
l
l
Special Interest Group
in Manufacturing
Election Results
The SIGMAN elections were held in
June, 1992. Elected to office were
Miroslav Benda, Industrial Co-Chair;
Stephen F. Smith, Area Chair, Production and Operations; D. Navinchan-
AAAI-92
Proceedings
Conference
of the Tenth National
on Artificial
Intelligence
American Association for
Artificial Intelligence,
July, 1992. San Jose, California
Contents include:
l Explanation
and Tutoring l Learning l MultiAgent Coordination l Natural Language l Perception l Planning l Problem Solving l Re’presentation and Reasoning l Robot Navigation l
Scaling Up l Invited Talks
References, index, 2 vols, approx 1,000 pages
$75.00,
ISBN O-262-51 063-4
Published by the
AAAI Press and The MIT Press
To order, call toll-free
l-800-356-0343
or (617) 6258569
Fax orders: (617) 625-6660
Mastercard and VISA accepted
WINTER 1992
-
11
A.441 News
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187 SladeRoadAshford, CT 0627
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dra, Area Chair, Material and Design;
Mark Drummond, Benchmark Secretary; and Maria Gini, Newsletter Secretary:
Correction
In the October Fellows mailing to all
AAAI members, Roger Schank’s name
was inadvertently
listed as Eric
Schank. We apologize to Roger Schank
for this error.
Student Volunteers
Needed for AAAI-93
Undergraduate or graduate students
enrolled in a full-time degree program at any college or university are
requested to serve as student volunteers during AAAI-93, to be held at
the Washington Convention Center
in Washington DC. In exchange for
assisting AAAI staff during your volunteer shift, you will receive a complimentary technical conference registration, a copy of the AAAI-93 conference Proceedings, and a special
AAAI-93 T-shirt.
If you are interested in assisting
us at the national conference, please
contact AAAI at volunteer@aaai.org.
All inquiries should include your
name, address, telphone, advisor’s
name, and email address. We expect
to name a volunteer coordinator in
the near future, so please watch for
future announcements.
Nominations Due for
Councilor and
President Elect
AAAI is soliciting nominations
for
President-elect and councilors, to begin their term of office in July, 1993.
Please consider nominating persons
to fill these important volunteer positions. A nomination
form can be
12
AI MAGAZINE
MASTERCARD
found elsewhere in this issue of AI
Magazine.
AA.41 Press Names
New Editor-in-Chief
Ken Ford of the University of Western
Florida was named the new Editor-inChief of the AAAI Press. Dr. Ford
takes the place of outgoing Editor-inChief Bill Clancey, who will serve as
an advisor to Ken Ford during the
transition.
AAAI extends its sincere thanks to
Bill CLancey for his valuable contributions to the Press during his tenure.
New Technical Report Series
Begun
AAAI will begin distributing technical
reports of selected workshops, symposia, and conferences through the
AAAI Press. The first two reports to be
issued include Practical Approaches to
Scheduling and Planning and Statistically-Based Natural Language Programming Techniques.
New from AAAI Press!
Proceedings
m International
n Symposium
n on
n Artificial
n Intelligence
Applications in
Manufacturing
and
Robotics
Sponsoredby the Instifuto
TecnolQco y de Estudios
Superioresde Monterrey
Centro de Inteligencia Artificial
The 1992 Proceedingspresents
forty-five papers describing applications of AI to the solution of
problems in manfacturing,
robotics, and related areas; research on techniques to accomplish such applications; and the
problem of transferring the AI
technology, especially in the context of a worldwide economy.
Available in February, 1992
Approximately 450 pages
AAAI Fellows Nominations
We are now accepting nominations
for candidates to become 1993 AAAI
Fellows. AAAI’s Fellows program is
designed to recognize people who
have made significant, sustained contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. Candidates should, in general, have made significant contributions to the AI field for more than
ten years.
We encourage you to give careful
consideration to persons whom you
think deserve recognition.
If you
would like to nominate a candidate,
please contact AAAI at fellows93Qaaai.org.
ISBN o-929280-31-8
Specialprepublication price: $45.00
($60.00 after 28 February, 1992)
Available from
AAAI Press
445 Burgess Drive
Menlo Park, California 94025